Letter Boxed Solver

NYT Letter Boxed arranges 12 letters three per side on a square, and your goal is to use all 12 letters in as few words as possible — ideally just two. The key rule is that consecutive letters in any word must come from different sides of the square, so you can never use two letters from the same side back to back. Words must be at least three letters, and the last letter of each word becomes the first letter of the next, chaining your words together. The gold standard is a two-word solution where both words together use all 12 letters while respecting the side-alternation rule. Enter the three letters on each side — top, bottom, left, right — and hit Solve to find all valid words and the shortest two-word solutions, sorted by total length.

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About Letter Boxed

Letter Boxed is a daily word puzzle from the New York Times that combines vocabulary, geometry, and constraint satisfaction in a uniquely elegant format. The puzzle joined the NYT Games suite and quickly developed a devoted following, particularly among players who enjoy the challenge of optimal solution-finding — specifically the quest for the elusive two-word solution that uses all 12 letters.

The puzzle presents 12 letters arranged three per side on a square — one letter on each corner is not used. Players form words by connecting letters with lines, subject to one critical rule: consecutive letters in a word must come from different sides of the square. Words must be at least three letters. The last letter of each word becomes the first letter of the next word, chaining them together. The goal is to use all 12 letters in as few words as possible.

The two-word solution is the gold standard of Letter Boxed mastery. Finding a pair of words that chain correctly (word two starts with word one's last letter), use all 12 letters between them, and respect the side-alternation rule simultaneously is genuinely challenging. The NYT provides a reference solution using five or fewer words, but the community celebrates two-word solutions as the true measure of puzzle mastery. Some days no two-word solution exists, requiring three words at minimum.

Letter Boxed has inspired a dedicated solving community that celebrates efficient solutions. Players share their word counts on social media, similar to Wordle's color grid sharing. The puzzle's clean geometric constraint — the must-alternate-sides rule — makes it a uniquely spatial word puzzle that requires both vocabulary and spatial reasoning. Unlike most word puzzles, Letter Boxed rewards players who can visualize letter paths as much as those with large vocabularies.

Unusual letters like Q, X, Z, J, or rarely-used consonant combinations are hardest to incorporate. Find words containing these letters first and build your solution around them. If you can't find a natural word containing a rare letter, that's a signal to reconsider your approach entirely.

The last letter of your first word must begin your second word (and so on). This chain constraint means you want your first word to end with a letter that can start many common words. Words ending in A, E, I, O, S, T, R, or N give you the most options for chaining. Words ending in Q, X, or Z severely limit what can follow.

A single 8-10 letter word that covers letters from all four sides, using 8-10 of the 12 available letters, leaves only 2-4 letters for a second short word. Search for words that zigzag efficiently across the box rather than staying on one or two sides.

Every pair of consecutive letters in a word must come from different sides. This means you cannot use two letters from the same side consecutively. This constraint is easy to violate accidentally — double-check each word you plan to use by verifying every pair of adjacent letters comes from different sides.

PuzzleUnlock's Letter Boxed solver finds all valid two-word solutions and sorts them by total letter count — shortest combined length first. The top result is typically the most elegant solution. The solver also shows valid words for when a two-word solution doesn't exist.

Target uncommon letters first

Think about efficient word endings

Long words that traverse the box are valuable

Remember the side-alternation rule for every letter pair

The solver prioritizes shortest solutions

Q: Can I reuse letters in Letter Boxed?

Yes — letters can be reused across the puzzle (and even within a single word, as long as you don't use two letters from the same side consecutively). The constraint is about consecutive letters from the same side, not about reusing letters.

Q: What makes a word invalid in Letter Boxed?

Words using consecutive letters from the same side are invalid. Words fewer than three letters are rejected. Proper nouns are rejected. The NYT's word list also excludes some obscure words that might be valid in other word games.

Q: Is a two-word solution always possible?

Not always. Some daily Letter Boxed configurations require three words for the optimal solution. The NYT always provides a reference solution of five or fewer words, but the minimum possible for some configurations is three.

Q: How does the solver find two-word solutions?

The solver first finds all valid words using the 12 given letters that satisfy the side-alternation rule. It then tests every possible pair where word two starts with word one's last letter, and together the two words cover all 12 letters.

Q: What if the solver shows no two-word solutions?

If no two-word solutions exist for a given configuration, the solver returns all valid words that satisfy the constraints. Use these to build three-word solutions manually, starting with the longest words that cover the most letters.

Q: Does the order of letters within a word matter for the side rule?

Yes — every consecutive pair within a word must come from different sides. The path through the box can zigzag freely between sides, but you cannot take two steps on the same side in a row.